Born on January 7th, 1956 in Forest Hills, Queens, New York City, David Caruso spent much of his first year in hospital due to digestive problems. Early on, his parents divorced and his grandparents effectively raised him. These were lonely years for Caruso. He found solace in an old black & white television and soon discovered the stars from the thirties and forties.

When Caruso was sixteen, he saw The Godfather. It was this movie that inspired him to become an actor. A few years later, he made his television debut in an advertisement for Maxwell House. In 1980, Caruso made his film debut in Without Warning. The movie, which starred Jack Palance and Martin Landau, was about an alien spaceship that launched carnivorous disks at people.

His next movies, Getting Wasted and Crazy Times (a made-for-TV movie with Ray Liotta), and a re-occurring role as Shamrock on “Hill Street Blues” led up to An Officer and a Gentleman (1982). Caruso played Topper Daniels, the roommate of Zack Mayo (Richard Gere). The movie grossed more than $130 million. Because the movie was far more successful than anything he had been in before, it is often listed as Caruso’s first movie.

The success of An Officer and a Gentleman led to Caruso being cast in more supporting roles for the next decade. In Rambo: First Blood, Caruso played Mitch, the only cop to support Rambo. Other movies from this era include Abel Ferrara’s Thief of Hearts, The First Olympics: Athens 1896 (in which he played American triple-jump champion/record holder James Connolly), Crime Story (also from director Abel Ferrara), Twins, and King of New York.

The culmination of this era came with Mad Dog and Glory (1993). Co-produced by Martin Scorsese, this movie starred Robert De Niro, Uma Thurman, and Bill Murray. De Niro played Wayne Dobie, a police photographer who saves Frank Milo’s (Murray) life during an armed robbery. Milo turns out to be a mobster. He rewards Dobie by giving him Glory (Thurman) for one week. Glory was doing this to pay off a gambling debt to Milo. Dobie was left in a moral dilemma, since his position with the police did not allow him to be associated with mobsters. At the same time, he is drawn to Glory. The movie was critically acclaimed but met with a lukewarm reception at the box office.

Caruso’s part in this movie is similar to many of his previous roles. Like a large number of the movies, he played a cop. In this case, he played Dobie’s partner Mike. Unlike Dobie, who has internalised most of his emotions, Mike is fiery. In cases where physical violence is needed, the role falls to Mike. An example comes when Milo decides to send his bodyguard to retrieve Glory. Dobie gets Mike to deal with the situation.

With all of this experience under his belt, Caruso was inevitably bound for larger roles. This came with “NYPD Blue”, a gritty police-series from producer Steven Bochco (“Hill Street Blues”, “LA Law”). The off-colour language and scenes with brief nudity shocked many viewers. Caruso starred as Detective John Kelley Jr., with Dennis Franz co-starring as his partner Detective Andy Sipowicz. Kelley Sr. had been a highly decorated police officer who was killed in the line of duty. Kelley Jr. had devoted his life to living up to his father’s reputation. This led him to place impossibly high standards upon himself. He became very tightly wound, which led to him distancing himself from the ones he loved. His character as considered the moral centre of the show. The show became a major hit, garnering both critical praise and high ratings. Caruso was now a household name.

Unfortunately, this situation did not last long. Caruso had developed a reputation as being difficult to work with. Once he had become his character on set, he would often become angry and throw temper tantrums. When Caruso asked that shooting of the show be scheduled around his possible movie appearances, he was asked to leave the show. After four episodes in the second season, Kelley was written out of the script. Jimmy Smits, who was actually the producer’s first choice for the part but had turned the role down, replaced Caruso.

After ‘leaving’ “NYPD Blue”, Caruso made the move to lead movie roles with “Kiss of Death” (1995). This remake of a 1947 film starring Victor Mature was a combination of a crime/cop drama and film-noire. Caruso played Jimmy Kilmartin, a criminal trying to go straight. He fails, and is drawn in with Little Junior Brown (Nicolas Cage), a violent and powerful criminal. After a botched attempt at stealing a car, Kilmartin is arrested. He is given a choice between going back to jail or ratting on Brown. He goes with the latter. The movie received mixed reviews and had a semi-descent run at the box office.

That same year, Caruso made second attempt at movie stardom with Jade. He starred as David Corelli, an assistant DA investigating the murder of a millionaire. He learns that the millionaire had been supplying powerful people with a coastal vacation resort and high-class prostitutes. He would then have these ‘vacations’ secretly photographed for blackmail purposes. Much of the investigation centred on Corelli’s ex, Fiorentino (Katrina Gavin). Although some of the acting was good, the movie was the victim of a bad script. The plot was unfocused, sometimes confusing and rife with clichés. The movie, which cost $50 million to make, brought in only $10 million. Writer Joe Eszterhas was nominated for the Worst Screenplay Razzie but won for his script for Showgirls instead. Caruso was nominated for the Worst New Star Razzie for his work in both Jade and Kiss of Death, but ‘lost’ to Elizabeth Berkley for Showgirls.

With his movie career struggling, Caruso returned to television with the TV series “Michael Hayes”. Caruso starred as the title character, a tough but sensitive ex-cop. After his boss is injured in an explosion, he is made acting US Attorney. Also, he has to take care of his younger brother’s family while he rehabilitates after a lengthy jail term. The show was loosely based on the life of New York mayor Rudolph Guiliani. Unfortunately, the show played at the same time as the popular sitcoms “Home Improvement” and “Frasier”. The series was reasonably good, but not good enough to convert fans of those two hit shows. It was cancelled after one season.

Gold Coast (1997), a made-for-cable movie, was directed by Peter Weller and starred Caruso as Maguire. Maguire goes to meet a mobster he owes money to, but discovers that he is dead. Instead, he has an affair with his wife, Karen DiCilia (Marg Helgenberger). Things are complicated by the will, which states that if Karen becomes involved with another man, she will not inherit the $15 million. This is enforced Roland Crowe (Jeff Kober). Of the few people who actually saw this movie, most thought that it was a lot better than they had expected.

Caruso continued to fail to rebuild his career with Cold Heart. He starred as Ned, who along with Jude (Kelly Lynch) robs a diamond store. Things go wrong and three people are killed. During the getaway, Jude throws Ned out of the car and keeps the loot for herself. Ned vows revenge and gets help from a hitchhiker named Bec (Stacy Dash). An unoriginal script hampered the strong cast. Critics were unenthusiastic; audiences were even less so.

The same thing happened to The Split. A strong cast that included Linda Fiorentino (Jade, Men in Black), John Leguizamo (Carlito’s Way, The Fan), Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction, Con Air), Donnie Wahlberg (New Kids on the Block), and Forest Whitaker (Good Morning Vietnam, Species) were let down by a weak script. The movie was about a group of criminals who attempt an art robbery. During the robbery, one of them is killed. They flee to Miami, where they will make the drop-off. That is, if they don’t kill each other first. The script included numerous illogical plot twists. The movie went straight to video.

This year, Caruso is scheduled to appear in Fence Jumpers. This is a movie about three close friends, one Jewish, one Italian, and one Irish. The friendship is tested when one of them becomes a gangster while the other two become cops. Unsurprisingly, Caruso will play the Irish cop. The movie is based on a book by Robert Leuci, an ex-cop whose career was profiled in Prince of the City.

Caruso’s struggling career has made him subject for many jokes. When Caruso left “NYPD Blue”, Jay Leno said in his nightly monologue “I have two words for you: Shelley Long”. This was a reference to the actress who left Cheers at the peek of its popularity to concentrate on her movie career. Like Caruso, her career went rapidly downhill with a series of bad movies. Another reference to his troubles came in a 1997 episode of “Southpark”. When Kyle was trying to get his baby brother Ike to do a nosedive, he told him to do his impression of David Caruso’s career.

While his career may be foundering, Caruso seems to be getting his personal life in order. On May 4th, 1996, he married Margaret Buckley, his third wife. He has also quit drinking. Hopefully, this will calm him down enough to dispel his image of being difficult to work with. Once that happens, he will begin appearing in movies that are worthy of his talents.